


Seasonal Extra

by magog_83



Series: Stories of Love and Menswear [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-04
Updated: 2011-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-17 14:33:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magog_83/pseuds/magog_83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur deals decisively with inebriates in the pub at Christmas. Merlin doesn't mind at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seasonal Extra

As it turned out, going out with Merlin had not rendered Christmas any more enjoyable to Arthur. Except for Merlin dressing up as an elf of course. Arthur had to admit, if pressed, that he found that quite ~~adorable~~ acceptable.

But even that could not make Arthur enjoy the sight of a drunken woman staggering up to them the moment they walked into the pub after work, armed with a large sprig of mistletoe and demanding a Christmas kiss from his boyfriend.

“Oh no, thank you,” Merlin told the ~~brazen hussy~~ woman immediately, taking Arthur’s hand with a proud little glance that had no effect on Arthur’s heart rate whatsoever. “I’m here with my boyfriend.”

The ~~harpy~~ reveller looked Arthur up and down, taking in his neatly pressed trousers and the smart blue jumper Merlin had made him put on over his work shirt, and then raised an eyebrow in an entirely insulting manner. “Are you sure? He doesn’t look like the kissing under the mistletoe type.”

Merlin’s hand tightened on Arthur’s. “That’s none of your business,” he said indignantly. “Not everyone likes snogging in public! Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” The last was directed at Arthur, with another squeeze of his hand that made Arthur feel a little less ~~mortified~~ irritated.

“If you say so, love. Good luck with that.” The ~~inebriate~~ woman gave them another look before she made to turn away. “If you change your mind, I’ll be over here.”

“I won’t,” said Merlin firmly, and the ~~boyfriend stealer~~ woman just laughed in what Arthur thought was a stupid and offensive way, making Merlin flush angrily.

There were times when Arthur found the world extremely trying, markedly less so since Merlin, it must be said, but when he did he liked to draw on what he called his ~~Inner Morgana~~ personal strength and determination, and right then and there was a perfect example.

“Excuse me,” he said politely, tapping the ~~drunken miscreant~~ woman on the shoulder. She turned, surprised. “I need to borrow that for a moment.”

Without further ado (because ~~Morgana~~ Pendragons didn’t hesitate) he plucked the sprig of mistletoe from her hand and took a deep breath for courage (they were in public after all). Then he turned to Merlin and, before Merlin could do more than look confused, yanked him forwards into a kiss.

It went on rather longer than Arthur was expecting. Merlin seemed quite enthusiastic about the whole idea, regardless of their audience, and Arthur staggered back slightly as Merlin threw his arms around his neck and pressed hard against him. If Arthur had been a sentimental sort of a person (which he wasn’t), he might have noticed that Merlin tasted of the mince pies they’d been eating in the staff room at work, and that his skin was still cold from the biting winter air outside.

It was the pub door opening behind them that made ~~Merlin~~ Arthur draw back, only then becoming aware of the cat calls and cheering of what seemed horrifyingly like half the people in the bar. Arthur took a moment to recover, then stepped away in a ~~flustered~~ cool and collected manner, trying not to look at Merlin’s flushed and happy face.

“Wow,” said Merlin breathlessly at that moment, completely undermining Arthur’s resolve. “That was brilliant.”

Arthur thought it might seem slightly big-headed of him to agree so he cleared his throat instead. “Shall we get a drink?”

“What?” said Merlin, still looking slightly dazed. “Oh. No, we can do that later. Here,” he turned to the woman who, Arthur was pleased to see, was staring at them with her mouth hanging open (she looked stupid), “I won’t need that anymore.” He shoved the mistletoe into her hand and then pulled Arthur after him to the door. “Come on Arthur, I forgot something.”

“There won’t be anyone at work at this time!” Arthur pointed out, rather confused as he followed Merlin outside into the snow. “You’ll have to wait until—”

He stopped abruptly as Merlin pushed him up against the wall of the pub, his feet sinking slightly in the snow. “I might have been lying,” Merlin said, breath warm on Arthur’s face. “I just thought you might want to, you know, kiss me again. Without the audience this time.”

Strangely enough, Arthur found that he did.

(It was a lot better without the audience).

The End.


End file.
